Keith Miller said

I have this problem too. I'm 72 and my eyesight isn't perfect, and I have to hold a magnifying glass to the screen to read it. This is stupid. By the way increasing the Font Size to 18 only increases the font on emails I am writing. Emails received remain constantly small and tough to read. Menu fonts are only slightly larger. I am using Thunderbird 68.3.1 (32 bit) on Windows 10, so I am running the latest stuff. Monitor's (3 of them) are set at 1440x900. If they were smaller this would be completely unreadable.

The entire Thunderbird email program font is like about 4 or less. There are many reasons for a font setting being less than expected, it is not just down to Thunderbird. Do the following and you can adjust everything to suit you. This fix is easy and you will be up and running agin in no time. Using 'Windows OS': Menu app icon (3 lines) > Options > Options > Advanced > 'General' tab You may see a friendly warning accept the risk. In search type : pixels look for this line: layout.css.devPixelsPerPx the default value is -1.0 double click on that line to open a small window OR right-click the preference and select 'Modify' which allows you to change the 'Value' You can try values such as 1.20 or 1.25 or 1.5 or 2.0 or 2.20 As the number increases so does font size click on 'OK' I used this solution after 2 hours search is good for the upper pane but too big for the messages. Anyhow is there a moderator for guidance?

Font size can effect various parts of the Thunderbird program and there are different solutions depending upon the problem. Most people will not experience any issues and some people need to alter settings due to eyesight issues. There may also be more settings within the OS that are also effecting what you see. The sender of an email may have deliberately chosen a font size in their emails because they can read it and all looks good, but do not consider how other people will see their email.

One solution does not fix all issues.

IF there is a general UI small font issue throughout the entire program, that means Folder Pane, Thread Pane, Menus, Emails etc etc,. eg: everything looks like it is using the same tiny font. Then follow the instructions as already mentioned regarding the config editor and altering the 'layout.css.devPixelsPerPx' option. Image also supplied in a previous comment,.

If everything is ok except for the 'Thread Pane', then you can follow the advice to create a 'userChrome.css' file and use the code as already mentioned in previous comments. images as a guide already supplied in previous comment. Some code specifcally targeted 'Folder pane', some specifically for 'Thread Pane' and also some for all general UI font except for emails. All of this has already been discussed in previous comments, so please read past comments.

If everything is ok except for the emails which seem to vary. Check settings (note MAC and Linux and Windows menu are different). sfhowes has also previously mentioned this information. Windows: Menu icon > Options > Options > Display > Formatting

MAC: Thunderbird > Preferences > Display > Formatting

Linux: Edit > Preferences > Display > Formatting

A size 14 will look a different size depending upon the font. I would suggest you use a standard font that is likely to be available for most OS. eg: Arial

Click on 'Advanced' 'Fonts for': Do the following for both drop down options. Specifically 'Latin' and 'Other Writing systems' and any other option that effects you.

For 'Proportional, Monospace and Minimum Font size' Set a size that is desirable, I suggest 14 as a good place to start.

Uncheck 'Allow messages to use other fonts'. click on 'OK'

Note: setting the 'Display' formatting will effect email content in received emails and default for Write window when composing. Setting created in a 'userChrome.css' file can override these settings.

Image below as a guide. Your choices may not be exactly the same. Images for old style Options and also new style in a Tab.

f307d52 said

I used this solution after 2 hours search is good for the upper pane but too big for the messages. Anyhow is there a moderator for guidance?

Options > display >formatting is the setting you are looking for for displaying messages. Not that sizes are in pixels so are about 30 % smaller that points used in things like word. (I use about 17 on my device.

Thank you I followed this procedure and I am looking into how to hide the message source is taking too much space. Can you help on this Thanks

re :looking into how to hide the message source is taking too much space. I'll answer this time, but please note, if you have other issues that do not relate specifically to the question as originally posted, you should ask your own question.

Perhaps you are refering to the header information. Maybe you are currently seeing all the headers instead of the basic. Try this: Menu app icon > View > Headers > Select 'Normal'

Hello, I've just switched to a new mac (OS Catalina 10.15.2; TB 68.6.0) and I have the same problem of the lisintg in the inbox being too small for comfortable reading. I've changed the value in the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx line in the Config.editor, but it doesn't change things. Well, it did when I entered a positive integer (e.g. 1.5), then everything got extremely small, so the opposite of what I wanted. Using a negative integer (-1.25 or -1.5) did not make anything bigger though.

Any idea what this could be? I suspect that this is a mac issue, as my apple mail listing has also gotten way smaller. Sigh. Would like to continue using both though (I'm a fan of TB, to be honest).

Thanks so much for any pointers!

-Maarten.

Maarten said

Hello, I've just switched to a new mac (OS Catalina 10.15.2; TB 68.6.0) and I have the same problem of the lisintg in the inbox being too small for comfortable reading. I've changed the value in the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx line in the Config.editor, but it doesn't change things. Well, it did when I entered a positive integer (e.g. 1.5), then everything got extremely small, so the opposite of what I wanted. Using a negative integer (-1.25 or -1.5) did not make anything bigger though. Any idea what this could be? I suspect that this is a mac issue, as my apple mail listing has also gotten way smaller. Sigh. Would like to continue using both though (I'm a fan of TB, to be honest). Thanks so much for any pointers! -Maarten.

I suggest you create a new profile and see if i suffers from the same issues. Mozilla in general has had issues with the retina displays and mac pixel doubling for a long time. Mostly this turns up after a profile is moved to a new device. Hence my suggestion of a new profile.

But please start your own topic when you go to report your results. Link to here to give your new topic context if you like. But I think your issues are different to what is happening in the proceeding two pages.

New topic process starts here. Note that category is not all that important to the volunteers here, unlike the more specialized Firefox folks. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new

Al these methods are not systemic, in that each only changes one but not all the locations where fonts need to be sized. OR, the Px method changes everything all at once, but doesn't change their relative sizes when they are already differently-sized.

We need to be able to independently define and (if necessary) change: 1. Folder pane font size 2. Inbox (and other folder) font size 3. Message font size

That this functionality is not available attests to the programmer-orientation of T'bird developers and many (but not most) users. Calling on your average user to build and place CSS files is (to be kind) an example of techno-arrogance. I agree with the many voices on this forum that propose the T'bird developers address this user-interface bollocks once and for all with a "View" menu-item drop-down (or some similar architecture) and give us a T'bird that doesn't hurt our eyes.

Similarly, why not let us adjust the spacing between lines in the inbox and other folders? And going to Dark Mode in the MacOS now makes all the text in the tag colors illegible? What about that?

Let me propose that the T'bird developers and the generous contributors re-focus (at least for a while) on usability matters rather than on functionality matters. Most of the more-obscure functions are not used by even many users, not even close to most.

If T'bird is REALLY the best e-mail client (I think it is, which is why I am using it), it should be that in every respect.

Thank you. Alexander

Hi Alexander Reread all the comments and you will find all the information has already been mentioned.

If you have a general UI small font issue then the Config editor 'pixel' method is required to enlarge overall.

Font size to do with emails either received or composed are sorted within 'Options' or 'Preferences' depending upon OS.

People who want to personally alter only one specific area for personal preference have to use 'userChrome.css' as previously mentioned. In which case full info has already been provided.

re:Calling on your average user to build and place CSS files is (to be kind) an example of techno-arrogance. Disagree. The one thing I've never been accused of is techno-arrogance and often I have tried to point out design issues that are not always user intuitive and to be honest it is somewhat offensive to suggest the average user does not have the skillset listed below. However daunting it might seem it only requires you have the following skillset - if you cannot do the following then you may need assistance by someone with the skillset:

• Ability to follow instructions in the order stated
• Ability to create folders
• Ability to open a text editor eg: Notepad
• Ability to copy supplied text
• Ability to paste the copied text
• Ability to save a file with a specific name in a specifed location.

There is no requirement to have any knowledge of code writing. Most people do have the above skillset, even if they need some hand holding due to lack of confidence and I've managed to help many many people who initially thought it seemed difficult until they tried it.

re:Similarly, why not let us adjust the spacing between lines in the inbox and other folders? And going to Dark Mode in the MacOS now makes all the text in the tag colors illegible? What about that?

Not relevant to this topic question. Ask a new question for other issues.

I believe the topic regarding how to sort the various font size issues has been discussed and does not require any further repetition.

Well, actually, you have posted a list of skills elementary to computer-savvy people. Right enough. What you don't seem to recognize is that those skills are far beyond the capability of almost all other users.

If we want T'bird to be used by a general population of internet users, we shouldn't require each user to spend an hour or more configuring it to readability (if even then; it could take longer, or fail entirely).

And yes, your syndrome may not be techno-arrogance; it might be simple ignorance of the low capabilities of your average internet user (given that your average T'bird user may in fact have a higher level of skills). Or perhaps a lack of generosity and compassion for people whose skill-sets and priorities are different from yours.

Plus, it is not as straightforward as you imply. I have fussed with all the settings you mention (except going into the CSS routine), and it's still a mess, for making a change one way changes other settings. Please don't ask me how or why; I am just reporting empirical observations.

As it is, there is a fourth calibration required: in my case, the home page (the one with Email, Accounts, and Advanced Features) for my account is 28-point (or whatever), while the Inbox is 11 and the folder Pane is 16 and the messages open in HTML Large [I know this is a mixture of standards, so this is just about relative appearances].

How can we configure all these for a uniform and legible user-experience? Does ANY other e-mail client maintain this dissonance? And the fact that they offer dramatically less flexibility and functionality is no excuse for T'bird people to be so parochial.

Even a retarded platform like WIndows 10 allows a user a single global screen magnification. Why should a sophisticated application like T'bird require four (or even more) separate adjustments to get uniform appearance and readability?

Please, let's address this long-standing issue in some central, organizational (and compassionate) way, and not dither pridefully...

Alexander

Alexander is exactly right and expresses the situation precisely. Toad-Hall appears to miss the point entirely.

I'm wondering if people here have tried their OS support? For example, on this machine with a large HD display, I have the Windows 10 scale factor set to 110% and all my applications look great. On my most "extreme" laptop which has a 4K display that is only 13", the scaling is set to 250% and all the applications look great there too. (Thunderbird being one of them, of course.) One adjustment in the OS and all applications look good.

No one who has provided various solutions to different font size issues has missed the point. This support forum is not a chat forum to hypothesize on whether you like the answers or not nor to bring up issues not related to the question. It should be remembered that people who try to answer questions and offer solutions are other Thunderbird users offering their time freely to try to help those with issues. The various means of dealing with font size issues have been explained to deal with the current way Thunderbird works.

Yes, but for whom, exactly? It is one thing to share obscure tricks with the cognoscenti; another thing entirely to badger innocent and naive non-techie users to do things that they are totally unfamiliar with and incompetent at.

And about that free offering, which we all appreciate and seek to match fairly — remember that the non-techie users are the ones most likely to support T'bird and Mozilla with CASH contributions (instead of code or other notions). This revisits the notions of techno-arrogance, stingy pride, and cultural stratification (the non-techie versus the techie). A great program should be great for all its users...

And my proposals are strategic rather than technical or tactical. It's about the accomplishing most-civilized design for T'bird in search of the best user experience (and consequent support from users whatever its form). Who makes the strategic decisions about what design and user-interface implementations are prioritized? What's the plan, Stan?

And there are other dissonances with the Mac OS that we haven't even begun to address, bugs that may not appear on other platforms. Blank buttons and selected-items in pull-downs, for instance, and strange colors and grays appearing anomalously.

Really, guys, this is a matter that needs to get resolved through whatever process Mozilla at large can muster. Or is T'bird just a random accretion of various ad hoc fixes without any master plan?

I don't believe that, or want to believe that. So what's up?

Alexander...Please Stop ranting, your comments do not provide the person who created this question with anything useful to resolve the question. You are only talking to fellow users.

Hi Scrumble, Did you get the answer you were looking for when you started this thread? If not, just tell us what part of the advice you need help with, and I'll try to help.

What would be ideal for most users (even those who "know better") is a universal right-click to access text sizing (and other appearance and even functional properties) of any location on the interface. Put your cursor over the Account pane, right-click, specify, move on. Put it over the Folders pane, or the inbox (or any other mailbox), or the menu bar(s), or the Message pane, ditto. That function could be folded into the existing Customize option for the toolbar(s), and added for the rest of the geography.

At the risk of offending those more concerned with formal functionality, may I propose that there are other functions the software performs more subtly, and which directly support a better user experience, even though many users don't recognize that. Some even refuse to. The mark of a mature program is that its appearance enhances the user experience and doesn't degrade it.

T'bird developers and strategic guidance group (or however the development is coordinated): it may be time to become more sophisticated about the user experience. This will matter most for those handicapped by vision challenges, or just plain aging. However everyone will benefit.

Thanks for hearing my "rant," Alexander

AlexanderCarpenter said

Thanks for hearing my "rant," Alexander

How about placing enhancement requests in the right place. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home

You will probably find most tings have been requested already, Thunderbird has had a fairly long life so far, but that is where you file enhancement requests.

As for ranting in the support forum, your rant goes to a couple of volunteers who really are no more than you are, users of Thunderbird. The more it comes across as a rant, the less support folks are likely to read. The volunteers here are trying to help fellow users, and those ranting are not usually folks looking for help. They are venting their feelings, and it might be possible to help them, but they make it very hard work to get through their anger and frustration.

Well, thanks, Matt. I only called my suggestion a "rant" because of the gratuitous such characterization by Toad-Hall. Perhaps the irony was lost somehow...

And since this thread was indirectly addressing a deeper issue than the immediate need, I continued in it.

Plus, any projection (?) onto me of anger and frustration is suspect, since I am not particularly upset, but rather seeking to make a contribution based on my decades of UI development (as well as on my deep appreciation for T'bird and the folks behind it).

I have separately heard from Wayne Merry acknowledging the situation in context, and so I feel complete here. Thanks to all who make T'bird the success it is. Since I have been using T'bird for a few years now, I no longer pine for the fabled Eudora (although I would like to be able to edit received messages before I archive them.

Enough said., over and out... A.